Friday, November 18th, 2016

The Washington Post has a rather frightening interview with fake-news creator Paul Horner, who wrote many pieces that went viral among Trump supporters. The credulity Horner found and exploited for personal gain is worrisome, and undoubtedly had some impact on the electorate. Worse, the anti-intellectualism Trump and others have so cravenly used to get elected seems certain to increase the problem.

Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski even re-posted one fake story about a protestor receiving $3,500 to protest at a Trump rally.

Why? I mean — why would you even write that?

Just ’cause his supporters were under the belief that people were getting paid to protest at their rallies, and that’s just insane. I’ve gone to Trump protests — trust me, no one needs to get paid to protest Trump. I just wanted to make fun of that insane belief, but it took off. They actually believed it.

I’ve been thinking about this particular ridiculousness since Trump’s sniveling post-election tweet whined that “professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting”. If I can get paid to protest Donald Trump, you just tell me where to sign. Right now I’m just giving it away from free like a chump.